Experimental investigation of particle migration in suspension flow through bifurcating microchannels

Experimental measurements of velocity and concentration profiles were carried out to study transport of non-colloidal suspension in bifurcating micro channels for both diverging and converging flow conditions using a combination of mirco-particle image velocimetry and particle tracking velocimetry techniques. Migration of particles across the streamline was observed and symmetric velocity and concentration profile in the inlet branch becomes asymmetric in the daughter branches. Further migration of particles toward the center of the channel in the outlet branch make the profiles again symmetric. The evolution of velocity and concentration profiles was observed to be different in the symmetric and asymmetric bifurcation channels. The comparison of the streamlines for the fluid and the particles showed significant deviation near the bifurcation region. This may explain why there is unequal flow and particle partitioning during flow of suspension in asymmetric bifurcating channels as reported in many previous studies. (c) 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 2293-2307, 2018